3606 miles in 12 days. Yes that was a long ride I'll always remember.

Friday was the first day for me, Wayne, Marty and Ron. We all got together at the Rodeway Inn in Castaic so we could be all rested for the start of the ride on Saturday.

  Saturday 8 bikes got together for a great ride up the coast to Gilroy. I know it's one we do every July but for me I never get tired of it. Our first stop was in Buellton. As we were getting gas Ron Noticed that the tire on Coachdoc's bike was very low. So after a look see we noticed a screw in his rear tire. I pulled it our and put a plug in it. It worked well and we were on our way once again. We made a quick stop in San Luis Obispo for a splash of gas before we hit the Hwy 1 to Cambria. Lunch at the Main Street Grill was good as always and I'm sure no one left there hungry. Once again it was back on the bikes with a stop at the Sea Lion beach for a look see. They were very active and it was fun to see them. We made two more stops along the way for some great views and pictures. We made it into Gilroy around 6:30 and checked into our rooms.

  Sunday it was time to say goodbye to our friends and start our ride north. John, Marty and I headed to Red Bluff for the first night. On the way we stopped at Old town Sacramento for a look around and take a break. Lots of neat things to see and do there if you ever have the chance to stop by. We got to Red Bluff around 3:00 and found a nice room at the Best Western. It was 106 degrees when we arrived so a shower was very nice. I called our friend Dick Brittain so  he could join us for dinner. It was great to see him again and we had a nice visit.

 Monday, back on 5 again in warm temp, but the scenery in the Shasta area was worth it. Monday night was spent in Woodburn, Or. It was mostly a travel day to get north as fast a possible.

Tuesday, we toured the Columbia River Gorge, and the Bonneville Dam. We stopped at the fish hatchery, and took plctures of an 11 ft sturgeon. Boy was that a big fish 800 pounds and they said it was about 80 years old I believe. At the dam we took the tour of the dam and generator room. Also check out the fish ladders which you can see through a window and watch the fish from under water. The Gorge was just beautiful with all the waterfalls and trees. Everything is so green there. Crowds weren't to bad being a weekday as well. We check out View House and from there you can see up both directions of the Columbia River. It was a bit hazy for us but beautiful just the same.

   Tuesday night we stayed in Woodland, Wa. Wednesday we visited the eastern side of Mt St Helen. We could see Mt Hood, Mt Adams. We went north into Mt Rainer National Forest. Beautiful scenery, but some of the roughest roads I have ever been on. The road out of the eastern side of Mt Saint Helens had to have been some of the roughest roads I've ever been on. I'm talking flying W, seal busting bumps. You really had to watch your self as the shadows made it hard to judge them. We also got some pictures of Spirit Lake. When you look at it you can see thousands of logs that were left there from the eruption. The lake is over 200 feet higher then it was before the event. Going thru Mt. Rainer N.P. was very beautiful and thankfully the road were much smoother. Lots of great views but it didn't take to long to drive around the park. We stayed in Tacoma Wa. for Wednesday night. It was kind of a bummer to stay in a big city but we just ran out of time.

  Thursday we had a great time exploring the Olympic National forest. Checking out the rain forest we traveled down a dirt road for about 8 miles. Boy were the bikes dirty. We had lunch in Forks and found a car wash to clean them up a bit. We did over 300 miles today with over 2000 total so far. We never did make it up to Port Angeles but just the same it was a great day. They have planted a lot of new forest in that area because of the extensive logging so some of the trees weren't very tall.

  Thursday night we stayed at Ocean Shores Wa. John and I walked down to the beach for a look see. You can drive your car on the beach and we thought for second to take the bikes out there. Well didn't want to take chance have to dig them out of the sand. Great day Friday, made our way down to Lincoln City Oregon. A little over 200 miles. Stopped at Fort Clatsop in Astoria Oregon. One of the last forts by Lewis and Clark. Then to the Tillamook Cheese factory for a look see and some ice cream. Yes Tillamook makes thier own ice cream and was very good.  Then a quick stop at an air museum for a look see. We didn't go into the museum as there wasn't much to see for the fee they wanted. Saw some old 16 cylinder diesel engines rusting away in a field.

 Friday night we stayed in Lincoln City Or.. Saturday we had a great day and the weather couldn't be better. We stopped at a cool light house or 3 and many view spots.  John turned into the Jerry's Jet boat parking lot and we decided to take the 80 mile boat trip on Sunday morning. Since we were staying in Crescent City Ca. we had to get up early to back track back to Gold Beach Or. If you have never gone on these boats you must put it on your bucket list. This is where Marty left us to spend some time with his cousin in Crescent City.

Sunday it was so much fun and the driver could really handle that big boat. It held around 25 persons and had 3 6 liter 350HP chevy's in them. They can ride on the river in as a little as 6 inches of water, do 360 degree turns in there own length. It took about 6 hours for the trip and is well worth it.

Sunday Night we stayed in Klamath and as the day was short because of the Jet boat we didn't do to many miles. Monday as we made our way south once again we stopped at and stayed at Fort Bragg. Monday we stopped at many view spots and took some pictures. We checked out the Glass Beach and did our laundry. One is of Arch rock and natural bridge rock. It's amazing how the ocean can carve these rocks into such beautiful shapes.

Monday after a good night sleep at the Motel Trees we had a nice breakfast and walked  across the hwy to the Trees of Mystery. I have past this many times but have never walked thru it. It was very interesting and they have a tram ride to the top of the peak. Unfortunately the coastal fog was in and we could see anything. It was a nice ride anyway though. We left around 11 ;00am south again and ended up in Santa Cruz. We found a place to say and walked over to the boardwalk to find something to eat. Boy is that place a party town. Kids everywhere and from the looks of it they were having a good time on all the rides and playing games. 

Wednesday was just a travel day home as we had already saw the southern part of the coast hwy earlier. We got home around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Great ride and I hope everyone gets a chance to do it in the future.

Dave

   When you click on the picture link both John and my pictures are combined so there will be some duplicates.